«Dietary
cocoa flavanols improve blood vessel function in patients with kidney dysfunction.»
Consuming a beverage containing
cocoa flavanols improves blood vessel function in patients with kidney failure, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).
Two recently published studies in the journals Age and the British Journal of Nutrition (BJN) demonstrate that consuming
cocoa flavanols improves cardiovascular function and lessens the burden on the heart that comes with the aging and stiffening of arteries.
Not exact matches
Earlier studies have demonstrated that
cocoa flavanol intake
improves the elasticity of blood vessels and lowers blood pressure — but, for the most part, these investigations have focused on high - risk individuals like smokers and people that have already been diagnosed with conditions like hypertension and coronary heart disease.
It turns out that for them cognitive performance was
improved by a daily intake of
cocoa flavanols.
In keeping with this, recent studies showed that
flavanols, a subclass of flavonoids that is richly represented in natural
cocoa beans, increase NO production by cultured human vascular endothelial cells (16) and
improve endothelium - dependent vasorelaxation (NO - dependent) in finger (2) and brachial (3) arteries of healthy humans.
Flavanols and other
cocoa compounds may
improve health in other ways, too.
In fact, one study found that drinking hot
cocoa rich in
flavanols (read: dark hot chocolate) boosted blood flow to parts of the brain for up to three hours,
improving alertness and performance on simple calculations.
Research shows that compounds called
flavanols, found in some dark, minimally - processed forms of
cocoa,
improve blood flow to the brain.
A single - dose intake of
flavanol - containing
cocoa improved endothelial function accompanied by increases in plasma
flavanol metabolites.
One study of healthy volunteers showed that 5 days of consuming high -
flavanol cocoa improved blood flow to the brain (21).
Notably,
cocoa flavanols have been associated with numerous health benefits including the stimulation of nitric oxide synthase,
improving blood flow and arterial elasticity, decreasing blood pressure and platelet aggregation, and having anti-inflammatory actions [4 — 6].